Trent: I Didn`t Direct Murder

September 17, 1985|By Jon Peck, Staff Writer

Murder suspect John Trent testified Monday that he only wanted Ralph Lee Walker stopped from raping or killing a 16-year-old girl when Walker was killed during a cocaine party in Trent`s Palm Beach apartment last summer.

Instead, Dr. John Freund, who had been called on to help sedate Walker, lost control and stabbed Walker to death on his own, Trent testified. Trent said he helped dispose of the body to keep friends out of legal trouble.

``I had absolutely no idea Dr. Freund was going to go crazy,`` the West Palm Beach businessman testified. ``I obstructed justice. I may have been an accessory after the fact. But I`m not a murderer.``

Trent`s appearance on the witness stand sent a murmur through a packed Palm Beach County courtroom gallery that has witnessed a week of sensational testimony about the sex, drug use and killing that went on the night of July 24, 1984.

Trent`s defense rested after he testified, setting the stage for final arguments and jury deliberations today to wrap up the seven-day trial.

Questioned by attorney David Roth, Trent calmly insisted he had no intention of harming Walker when he handcuffed the enraged bodybuilder at gunpoint and summoned Dr. John Freund for help.

``I don`t know if any of Ralph`s family is out there, but he was my friend, and I wish I could turn back the hands of time, but I can`t,`` Trent said.

Several witnesses have testified Freund stabbed Walker to death after injecting him with a variety of drugs and alcohol. Prosecutors contend Freund, who will be tried later for his role in the killing, was acting under Trent`s direction.

Walker, who managed a hotel owned by Trent, became violent, witnesses said, when he was refused sex with teen-ager Lisa Angelilli, who with her mother, Eleanor Louise Mills, had joined Trent in using cocaine earlier in the evening.

``I said, `John, why did you do this thing?` `` Trent said of Freund. ``And he said, `I put him away because he knew too much about me.` ``

Witnesses earlier testified that Trent told them that Freund engaged in homosexual sex with Walker shortly before killing him.

Trent emphatically denied the most damaging allegations made by Angelilli, Mills and Bill Daniell, who was also in Trent`s apartment when Walker was killed.

The three witnesses said they heard Trent threaten to send Walker home to Pittsburgh ``in a box`` and that he repeatedly kicked Walker as the victim lay handcuffed on the floor. Trent testified he told Walker that he would give him money to return home to Pittsburgh after Walker`s violent outburst.

``I called Dr. Freund to calm down Ralph Walker and to keep him from raping and-or killing Lisa Angelilli,`` Trent said. ``He was very violent and out of control. I asked Dr. Freund if he would please come over and calm this gentleman down.``

Prosecutor Jorge LaBarga hammered away at Trent, suggesting he grew angry with Walker because Trent himself had hoped to have sex with Angelilli, but Walker had ``blown it`` for him.

Questioned by his own attorney, Trent said in steady tones that he never planned for Walker to die.